


Wild World

by Lothiriel84



Category: The Bunker (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Mild Language, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-08 04:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: You know I've seen a lot of what the world can doAnd it's breaking my heart in two'Cause I never want to see you sad girlDon't be a bad girl





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eruthiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruthiel/gifts).



> AU where Emma is much younger when they find her, and they have to raise her in the bunker.

“You know, David has been gone for a long time,” Tom muttered in a half voice, just as Dave leaned closer to the shaky tower of Bourbon creams in order to figure out his next move. They had been playing Jenga ever since David had gone out to check on the turbines, and that was over an hour ago at the very least.

“I’m – sure he will be fine,” he said with pretend conviction, as he tried to extract one of the biscuits from the bottom level, and realised he’d just made a terrible mistake. The tower collapsed, slowly, and Tom took the opportunity to snatch a couple of biscuits to dunk into his tea.

“How can you even dunk those things?” Dave added, shaking his head in horror. “They just turn into mush, it’s disgusting.”

Tom shrugged his shoulders, vainly tried to take a bite before the soggy biscuit crumpled into the teacup. “It’s not my fault someone has been digging into our emergency stash of custard creams, leaving us to wait for the next delivery. It’s either Bourbons, or chocolate digestives.”

“Ugh,” Dave wrinkled his nose, contemplating the grim fate that was awaiting them. Thankfully the sound of the rooftop door creaking open interrupted that train of thought, and he jumped at the opportunity to call out to David in his best fake-cheerful voice.

“Hey there man, you want a cup of tea?”

“Ah – yeah, sure,” David’s voice resonated through the passageway, sounding quite a lot less in control of the situation than they were used to. “Guys, could you come here a minute? I think I’ve found – something.”

Tom let out a long-suffering sigh, then stood up, slowly. “I’m not going to wade through the mud to help you dig out another hand grenade, David.”

“No, it’s – nothing like that,” David’s reply came, quite a lot softer than one would expect from him. His curiosity peaked, Dave stepped into the corridor, only to stop dead in his tracks as he found himself contemplating an utterly surreal scene.

David had only just climbed down to the bottom of the ladder, with some difficulty as he was carrying what looked like a bundle of mud stained clothes around his neck. Then he turned around, and Dave was left to stare into the huge, frightened eyes of a human child, her tiny hand clutching at the front of David’s shirt for dear life.

“My god,” he heard Tom cry out from somewhere behind him, startling the little girl even further. David glared at each of them in turn, as if daring them to breathe a word of protest, then took a deep, fortifying breath before he finally spoke.

“Emma, those are my – friends, I was telling you about. Dave, Tom, this is Emma; she will be staying here with us for a while.”

“Well, that’s – great,” Dave nodded, shooting Emma his most reassuring smile. Tom took a step forward, and that was when she hid her face against David’s shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

“...and one day, I’m going to go out there, see the new world with my own eyes. It can’t be as bad as they make it out to be.”

Dave looked up from where he was braiding Emma’s hair, shot Tom a quick, meaningful look. “Yeah, well. You know how David gets when you talk like that, do you?”

Tom downed the rest of his coffee, raised the empty cup in a defiant gesture. “David’s not the boss of me. I think it’s time we, um,” he trailed off, as if he had only just realised that Emma was there, hanging on his every word. “Never mind. Your – um, your hair, it looks great, Emma.”

The little girl offered him a toothy grin. “Thanks. Uncle Dave let me use his hair conditioner, it was so much fun.”

“Hang on, does that mean you use hair products, Dave? I thought that was your natural look.”

“Emma, darling, I can’t do your hair if you keep moving,” he said, completely ignoring Tom’s remark. She leaned back against the back of her chair, obediently holding still.

“Is David still asleep?” she asked after a while. “Why hasn’t he left his room yet?”

He and Tom exchanged a wary look, then he cleared his throat to gain a little more time. “He probably is. Best not to disturb him, am I right?”

There was no way he was going to explain to a ten-year-old that today was the day David’s wife had died, and he was most likely going to spend it confined to his own room, staring at the ceiling, and not talking to anyone. Emma might be very mature for her age, but that didn’t mean she should have to put up with David when he was in one of his bad moods, especially considering how among the three of them it was him she looked up to as a father figure.

“Tom, could you pass me one of those ribbons?” he demanded, vaguely hoping that would help to dissolve the tension. “And get Emma a couple of biscuits, she hasn’t had her breakfast yet.”

“I’ll get that,” a voice came from the doorway, and he turned around just in time to see David shuffle listlessly into the common room, an empty mug in his hand.

“David, look!” Emma jumped on her seat, defeating Dave’s attempts at tying the ribbon into her plait. “Uncle Dave is braiding my hair.”

“That’s – lovely,” David replied at length, forcing a tired smile onto his face. “You – ah, you should do that more often.”

Dave finally managed to tie the ribbon in a pretty bow, considered if he should try and distract Emma, giving David the time to beat his retreat. His dilemma was soon made redundant, as Emma wriggled off her seat, and rushed to hug David.

Both he and Tom had the decency to look away as David appeared to be struggling with his emotions, the empty mug now visibly trembling in his hand. 


	3. Chapter 3

“This is my fault,” David muttered from where he was sitting, slumped over the counter, his face buried in his hands. “Now she’s lying dead somewhere, I might as well have killed her with my own hands.”

Dave pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve the pressure of a brewing headache. “Stop it. Just – stop. Your self-loathing is getting us nowhere. I’m pretty sure Emma is still here, inside the bunker; what you need to do right now is focus, and help us find her.”

“You heard what she told me, Dave. I’m the last person she wants to see, and I can’t blame her for that.”

David’s voice broke halfway through his sentence, which was actually painful to listen to. Dave took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm, and spoke again.

“She’s a child, and she’s scared. She probably doesn’t believe anything of what she said, and even if she did, we still have to find her.”

That didn’t elicit any response from David, who appeared to be slowly crumbling under the weight of his own guilt. _Now is not the time for a breakdown, dammit_ , Dave thought between himself, weighing up the pros and cons of attempting to shake some sense into David’s head. As likely as not it would do nothing to help with their current predicament, but he was about to try it anyway when Tom’s muffled voice made itself heard across the passage.

“Guys, I’ve found her. She’s all right, she was just hiding in the air vents. We’re coming down now.”

David finally looked up, slowly straightened up from his hunched position. “Good. That’s – good. Be a good chap, Dave, go check on her for me, will you?”

“You know what, I’ve had enough of this bullshit. You get your arse out of that chair, now.”

They glared at one another, both of them frozen to the spot; in any other moment, Dave would have found the look of incredulity on David’s face mildly amusing, but as of right now, he was absolutely done with the man’s self-destructive streak. They were still standing there, staring at one another, when Tom walked into the room, carrying a tearful Emma in his arms.

“Here we are,” he was murmuring, as gently as he knew how. “It was all a big misunderstanding, right David? You and I were – playing, yeah? And he didn’t actually hurt me, so everything’s fine.”

David turned to look at Tom as if he’d never seen him before, his expression somewhere in between awe and genuine gratitude. “Yes,” he spoke at length, his voice sounding like it didn’t belong to him at all. “That’s – exactly what we were doing. Playing. I’m – sorry that I hit you a little too hard, Tom. I, ah, I didn’t mean to.”

“Don’t mention it,” Tom replied quite firmly, letting Emma down so that she could rush into David’s arms.

And if there were tears in David’s eyes, they all pretended they didn’t notice.


	4. Chapter 4

“Not again. David, please.”

David pushed him back quite forcefully, straining to hear the muffled cries filtering through the walls and corridors. “It’s Emma, she’s probably had another of her nightmares. I – I need to go and get her.”

Dave huffed in frustration, tried to resist David’s attempts at disentangling completely. It was a rare enough occurrence that David would let him sneak into his room at night, and one he wasn’t quite prepared to give up on so easily.

“Tom can handle that for once,” he protested half-heartedly, though he knew well enough he was fighting a losing battle. If there was one thing in the entire world David actually cared about, that was the little girl he’d rescued from one of his own bear traps; there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect her, whatever that meant in that scary place that was his head. He watched somewhat dejectedly as David grabbed his shirt and made for the door, leaving him alone in the cold, empty room.

Well, that was – good, he supposed. David might be broken beyond any chance of recovery, but the fact that he was still capable of human emotions sure meant there was a tiny, fragile sliver of hope for him, somehow. Though upon reflection, he should probably know better than to rely on something as fickle as hope by now; he was, after all, over four hundred years old, and counting.

He took a couple of deep, calming breaths, rolled over to search for David’s private stash of cigarettes. Chances were he wasn’t getting any sex tonight, but he was damned if he was going to pass on the opportunity to enjoy a good smoke instead. David was very peculiar about sharing his stuff, but he appeared to quite like Dave for some reason he didn’t entirely understand, so it was a reasonable assumption that he would get away with it, even more so under the circumstances.

It was only when his third cigarette started smouldering between his fingers – he was definitely going to get himself killed this time around – that he wondered if he should go and check on David and Emma, just in case. He crushed the cigarette butt in the ashtray, slipped into the rest of his clothes, not quite bothering with his shoes, and tiptoed down the corridor to Emma’s newly appointed bedroom.

He wasn’t quite prepared for the sight that greeted him when he cracked the door open, as silently as he could. Both Emma and David were fast asleep, huddled together somewhat awkwardly on the narrow bed, his palm resting protectively on her back, her much smaller hand still clutching at his hair.

Dave stood there for quite some time, staring at the two identical, unguarded expressions on their faces, trying to make out what that funny feeling that had started at the back of his throat was. Then he grabbed a blanket, carefully draped it over their sleeping forms, and finally stepped out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

“...they even had news reporters, who travelled around gathering information, and conducting interviews. That’s pretty exciting, I’m sure our dear listeners would agree with me on that.”

“We must, of course, remind our listeners of the risks inherent to that profession,” David all but interrupted her, obstinately ignoring the glare she was giving him. “Even without taking any form of physical or psychological harm into account, we mustn’t forget how many of them were killed in the line of duty.”

“Yeah, thank you, David,” Tom chipped in, trying to defuse the tension. “Now, for our next segment, we have Mystic Martin on the line.”

Dave took another sip of his hot cocoa in a futile attempt to ignore the brewing storm, which was quickly reaching the point of no return. He couldn’t tell whether Emma’s stubbornness was an innate trait of hers, or if she’d picked it up from David over the last four years she’d spent in the bunker; what he knew was that she had grown into a rebellious, strong-willed teenager, and David sure as hell wasn’t making a secret of how much he disapproved of such a development.

He slinked out of the room to refill his mug, and also to get a little break; the atmosphere in there was so thick you could cut it with a knife, only then it would definitely explode in a million of splinters like a hand grenade. He walked back just in time for David’s final thought, though he tuned out for most of that, seeing as Emma was almost literally glaring daggers at the man in question.

It was only when Tom hastened to press the button that switched off the broadcast that Emma finally spoke her mind. “You promised I would get my own segment on the show, without interference from any of you.”

David merely shrugged, frowning at his cup of coffee. “I just think we have a duty to our listeners, to let them see the whole picture.”

“As if you gave a fig about our listeners,” she snorted back, clearly unimpressed. “And just so you know, I am going to be a reporter, whether you approve of it or not.”

Dave and Tom exchanged a worried look, holding their breaths for the inevitable fallback.

“You are not going to leave the bunker, and that’s final,” David intimated, his grip tightening around the cup he was still holding.

“You’re not my dad,” Emma shot back, and that’s when Dave knew things were turning pretty bad. “You don’t get to tell me what I can’t do.”

David fell silent, staring icily at her for a long moment. “That’s right, I’m not. You know what, feel free to get yourself killed out there, or whatever. I – don’t care.”

He stomped out of the room, disregarding the tears that had started falling down Emma’s cheeks.

“I’ll – have a word with him, shall I?” Dave sighed, following David down the corridor. It was going to be a very long day.


	6. Chapter 6

“I’m sorry, I – can’t do this,” David muttered, his voice hoarse from all the effort of keeping his emotions in check. “You two go and see her out, I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“David, please, we’ve talked about this before. You need to do this, for both of your sakes.”

“Come on, man, it’s not as if she’s leaving forever,” Tom pointed out in a tone that could very nearly pass for jovial. “She promised she’s going to visit soon, yeah? She’s a smart girl, and she can look after herself. You taught her all you know, that should be enough to see her through.”

David shook his head, ran a weary hand across his face. “It’s dangerous out there, Tom. You talk about going outside all the time, see the Wasteland with your own eyes; and yet, here you still are. You wouldn’t leave the bunker, even when she asked you.”

“I – just think it’s something she’s got to do on her own; you know, like a coming of age thing? Anyway, this isn’t about me; it’s about Emma, and you. You can’t send her off on her journey without as much as saying goodbye.”

Dave risked touching David’s shoulder, just for a moment. “You can do this, David. We have faith in you, man.”

“That’s because you’re just a couple of deluded fools,” David chuckled humourlessly, dragging himself to his feet. “All right, let’s get this over with.”

Emma was waiting by the ladder, holding the bag of supplies and various equipment they had helped her to pack earlier on. As soon as she saw David she just dropped it to the floor, and ran to meet him in the middle.

“Thank you, David,” she said warmly, clapping her arms around him, and giving him a bear hug. “This means so much to me.”

David seemed to take a moment to relax into her embrace. He had made it very clear ages ago that he loathed that sort of contact; he’d even put it on a sign, and hung it in the common room. That had somehow changed since they’d found Emma, though she was still the one exception to that rule.

“Stay safe, Emma. And remember, we’re always here for you – whatever you need, just call us. All right?”

“I will. Goodbye, David.”

“Goodbye, Emma,” David murmured at length, his face buried into her hair. It was clear it was taking him all his willpower not to break down in front of her, but he was nothing if not determined, as they all knew well enough.

She then embraced Dave and Tom in turn, grabbed her bag, and nimbly started climbing up the ladder. “I’ll call you in time for your next broadcast. Teenage news reporter Emma Stirling is on the job!”

David leaned against the wall for just a moment, looking far much older than he had any right to be. “Good luck, child,” he whispered as if between himself, then waved her goodbye once more.


End file.
